Commuter Wants Order Imposed on On-Ramp Chaos

Dear Street Smart:

Trying to get onto the Ventura Freeway at Johnson Drive in Ventura is a nightmare.

It’s a challenge to get onto the freeway at any entrance during rush hour, but getting on at this entrance in either direction is especially frustrating.

Once in a while a kind soul will let you in, but for the most part, cars just will not slow down.

In extreme cases, I’ve had to stop and wait for a break in the traffic.

Meanwhile, there are cars behind me honking. The whole thing is a nerve-racking experience.

I’ve seen some on-ramps with traffic signals. They seem to make it easier to get onto the freeway. Would that work at Johnson Drive?

Edith Latz, Port Hueneme

Dear Reader:

A traffic signal would not solve the problem at Johnson Drive, says Ventura transportation engineer Nazir Lalani.

The Johnson Drive freeway ramp is not long enough to hold waiting cars, and traffic would back up onto the roadway, Lalani says.

However, a long-term plan to completely reconstruct the interchange does allow for on-ramp traffic signals, called light meters.

Within the next three months the city of Ventura will complete its review of the plan, which then will go to Caltrans for approval.

If all proceeds on schedule, the project should be under way by 1997 and completed by 1999.

As an interim step, the city recently synchronized the lights on Johnson to try to keep traffic flowing smoothly.

But more and more motorists are using Johnson to avoid the equally trying Victoria Avenue interchange.

Lalani suggests motorists go back to Victoria, which he says “is not as bad as Johnson has become.”

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Dear Street Smart:

A recent letter in your column on the lack of lighting on Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks reminds me of a gripe I’ve had for some time now.

The fact that many drivers can’t see as well at night is a big problem that does not seem to be acknowledged by traffic planners.

This makes poorly lit areas especially dangerous at night.

One solution might be marking lanes with reflectors, in addition to adding more street lights.

But not all reflectors are good reflectors.

Colorless reflecting lane markers on the Simi Valley Freeway are almost impossible to see during the day, but they are the only mark separating the lanes.

Replacing the clear markers with colored ones would be a great help. So would striping the lanes with yellow paint. Can this be done?

Harry Norkin, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

The quickest solution for people who can’t see well at night is not to drive after dark.

Other than that, traffic engineers say not much can be done to address your concerns.

Yellow markers and paint are not allowed between lanes, says Caltrans traffic engineer Bob Houle.

Traffic codes permit use of white paint between lanes and yellow along the center divider and the outside edges of the road.

Houle says he’ll check to see if the white paint between lanes on the Simi Valley Freeway needs a fresh coat. Paint between lanes usually fades within nine months.

Regarding your request for more reflectors on low-lit streets, Thousand Oaks traffic engineer John Helliwell says it’s too expensive to plaster roadways with “reflective raised pavement markers”--as the gizmos are formally called.

The markers themselves are relatively cheap, Helliwell says, but they require constant maintenance because cars roll over them and rip them off.

The city just doesn’t have the resources to pay road crews to run around all day gluing the markers back into place.

As a result, most of the existing markers are concentrated in high-traffic-volume areas like intersections and along the city’s busiest streets.

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Dear Street Smart:

Each morning I go out for a walk in my Oxnard neighborhood.

Just once I’d like to make it through my routine without getting yelled at by drivers or stuck in the middle of the street.

The problem is that walk lights are too short.

One particularly bad intersection is Ventura Road at Devonshire Drive. I literally have to run to make it across before the light turns red.

This problem is particularly bad for people who have difficulty walking and need extra time to get across the street.

Is there any way to make crosswalks more walker-friendly?

Pat Edmon, Oxnard

Dear Reader:

Walk faster, says Oxnard traffic engineer Joe Genovese.

Crosswalk traffic signals are timed for the “average walker,” who strides four feet per second, Genovese says.

In response to this inquiry, Genovese says he went to the Ventura-Devonshire intersection and personally timed the light, just to confirm that it was working correctly.

He found that it does allow pedestrians a “reasonable amount of time” to make it across the street.

Walkers are allowed seven seconds to begin walking before the light starts flashing a 25-second warning, followed by an additional 25 seconds of halted cross-traffic just to make sure the pedestrian has arrived safely at the curb.

To ensure maximum crossing time, Genovese says pedestrians should not step into the intersection once the light begins flashing.

If you still can’t make it across before the light turns red, traffic codes give pedestrians the right of way. That means motorists are not legally permitted to enter the intersection until the walker is safely out of the way.